From the UK Children’s Laureate comes a spellbinding YA novel in verse blending the ancient myth of Theseus and the Minotaur with the quest of a modern-day teen in search of his father. Theo, a seventeen-year-old London schoolboy with a single mother, is desperate to track down the father who left them, whom he scarcely remembers. At school he discovers Greek mythology and the ancient story of Theseus, a fatherless son driven on a similar search. As Theo focuses on Theseus in a series of poems he composes, it becomes clear the two journeys echo each other in uncanny ways. Theseus must conquer his enemies—a psycho Cyclops, a tree-bending murderer, a monstrous pig—while Theo is tricked and double-crossed, confronting obstacles ranging from a search-agency scam artist to a depraved lawyer. Poet Joseph Coelho brilliantly interweaves the boys’ stories, following them through dangers, horrors, and false successes, revealing that Theo must be as resourceful and strong as his mythical hero. In a unique twist, readers are asked to take a role in picking which option the heroes should pursue when facing choices on their path to manhood. The two alternating stories, along with stories from the Minotaur’s perspective, fuse into one in a riveting climax, as the protagonists meet in the heart of the labyrinth.

The place you will be taken is called the Labyrinth of Emptiness. It’s a place that has always existed. “As your host, I will guide you through a journey to its inner workings.” The Labyrinth of Emptiness is a place hidden deep within ourselves, and is the birthplace of the world that we live in. But what does it hold? In fact, the Labyrinth holds nothing. But as you read, the significance of this nothingness becomes apparent. You will find how salvation can be found in a place that is empty. We encounter many obstacles and illnesses along our path in life; however, though this enlightening book, you can find a road that may bring greater well-being back to your life source again.

I am being what they call an incorrigible scamp Under normal circumstances the very idea of speaking about myself would leave me a frantic wreck. This however to me is not a normal circumstance. I am an open book if one could ever strike up the nerve to ask. I like to understand the very deep consequences offending our answers. Feeling through the situation in all its aspects tends to strike a certain terror in people that some are ill prepared for. Life journies through us all. We enter one another's lives only to depart in what seems like mere moments later. This is all okay but the varied amount of emotion produced from such encounters leaves so many faltered. The bound leather volume events of my life aspire me to become as only to what a dream could pronounce. To say from known events and my reasons behind them tell two separate stories. I would like to say that my life began when my first word hit paper but that would be a fallacy on my part. I am shaped by my life before those moments in ways that I do not begin to comprehend. I see these events and am left baffled by my outcome. Choosing how to live this brief time we get between what I was taught to be and by how I get it wrong and by getting it right, this was quite a decision. By what one was taught or by what one learnt. I am being what I feel is a happy person.

A poem in which four little boys explore the world around them.